Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/186

178 the two streams first separate, is called the island of Seringham, famous throughout Indostan for the great pagoda from which it derives its name. This temple is situated about a mile from the western extremity of the island, at a small distance from the bank of the Coleroon: it is composed of seven square inclosures, one within the other, the walls of which are 25 feet high, and four thick. These inclosures are 350 feet distant from one another, and each has four large gates with a high tower; which are placed, one in the middle of each side of the inclosure, and opposite to the four cardinal points. The outward wall is near four miles in circumference, and its gateway to the south is ornamented with pillars, several of which are single stones 33 feet long, and nearly five in diameter; and those which form the roof are still larger: in the inmost inclosure are the chapels. About half a mile to the east of Seringham, and nearer to the Caveri than the Coleroon, is another large pagoda called Jumbakistna: but this has only one inclosure. The extreme veneration in which Seringham is held, arises from a belief that it contains that identical image of the god Wistchnu, which used to be worshipped by the god Brama. Pilgrims from all parts of the peninsula come here to obtain absolution, and none come without an offering of money; and a large part of the revenue of the island is allotted for the maintenance of the Bramins who inhabit the pagoda; and these, with their families, formerly composed a multitude, not less than 40,000 souls, maintained without labour by the liberality of superstition. Here, as in all the other great pagodas of India, the Bramins live in a subordination which knows no resistance, and slumber in a voluptuousness which knows no wants; and, sensible of the happiness of their condition, they quit not the silence of their retreats to mingle in the tumults of the state; nor point the brand, flaming from the altar, against the authority of the sovereign, or the tranquility of the government. This repose was now doomed to be much disturbed, and the temple to endure such pollutions as it had never before been exposed to.

The English battalion took possession of Pitchandah, a fortified pagoda situated on the northern bank of the Coleroon, about a mile to the east of Seringham: the rest of the army encamped along the